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  She started, as if she had just realized he was there, and then placed the letter down. Her hand covered it, as if she were trying to hide it. “Sorry. I was miles away.”

  “I could tell. Is there anything wrong?” he asked.

  Her eyes flitted to Dylan’s office. “No. Nothing at all. Are you going to the house today?”

  “Town first, and then over to the house.” He watched her face, and the way her thoughts were elsewhere.

  “That’s great.” She looked down at her hand covering the envelope.

  “Is there a problem?” He came around the desk and looked down, seeing her hand twitch.

  “No. I’m just tired.” She placed a smile on her face, but it wasn’t genuine; it hid a deep turmoil within her, a turmoil he wanted to calm.

  “You can tell me anything,” he said, wanting to ask her if this had something to do with the past she was so afraid of. “Anything.”

  “I know. Thank you. But I am fine, really.” She looked up. “Dylan’s ready to leave.” She came to Jed and kissed him on the cheek. “I’ll see you later.”

  “Ready?” Dylan asked.

  “Certainly am,” Jed said. “As long as you are OK?” he asked Amanda, his voice low so Dylan wouldn’t hear him as he walked outside.

  “Go. I’ll speak to you later,” she said.

  Her words made him frown as he followed Dylan out to the truck. There was a change in her, and he didn’t know why. But it had occurred since they had arrived at work, which made him believe it wasn’t something he had done.

  Climbing into the truck next to Dylan, he put his seatbelt on and looked back at the office, to where he could see Amanda, still standing where he had left her. When he got back later he would try to find out what was wrong. He only hoped she would be there later.

  A dark shadow crept over his mind. He didn’t know what he would do if he lost her, if she ran away from him. Not when they had their whole lives in front of them. She knew exactly what she meant to him. There was no way she would just leave without telling him why, or saying goodbye. But he remembered how she had told him someone had broken her heart, and he was scared she would do the same to him.

  “Jed,” Dylan said, pulling him away from his disturbed thoughts. “I’ve been talking to Steph, and there’s something I’d like to discuss with you.”

  Jed’s mood deteriorated even further. Don’t say as quickly as he had found his mate and a job, he was going to lose them all again? Mentally going over the last couple of days, he could think of nothing he had done wrong. Unless Dylan still harbored distrust for Jed. Damn that lunch money incident.

  “I’m all ears,” he said, keeping his voice amiable.

  “As you know, soon I am going to be a very proud father.” Dylan turned the truck into the main street through Bear Bluff, heading for the hardware store.

  “Congratulations,” Jed said, wondering why Dylan would choose to tell him what he already knew.

  “And Steph is not planning to give up work completely. So we’ve agreed to share baby care. Which means that I am going to need a foreman,” Dylan said, glancing sideways at Jed. “I think you would make the ideal candidate.”

  “You are joking?” Jed said.

  “No, no joke. Of course, we’re thin on employees right now. But as the company grows, I’ll be expecting you to take on more responsibilities. You said you need all the hours I can give you, and the hourly rate would go up in line with the responsibilities.”

  Jed let out a breath, which had become stuck inside his lungs as if he too were paralyzed. “That would be great.” His eyes narrowed. “Tilly didn’t come begging again, did she? Or Amanda?” Was that why her mood had changed? But she hadn’t had chance to speak to Dylan alone this morning.

  “No, this is all you. I’ve watched you work over the last couple of days, and I see how you are with Amanda. You have commitment, and I like that. I know what it’s like to feel the need to work hard for your mate.”

  “Thank you,” Jed said. “It means more than you could ever know.”

  “I know you won’t let me down,” Dylan said.

  “Hey, listen,” Jed said. “There is one more thing you could do for me.”

  “What I’ve just said isn’t enough?” Dylan asked.

  “This is more personal,” Jed said. “So when I get my first paycheck… I want to buy you lunch.”

  “Like on a date?” Dylan asked with a wry smile.

  Jed shook his head. “If that’s what you want to call it.”

  Dylan slapped him on the back. “If you feel the need to make up for the lunch money incident, then buy me a manly burger, and we’ll call it quits.”

  “Done,” Jed said, and got out of the truck, whistling as he followed Dylan into the hardware store. Maybe when he told Amanda about this later it would cheer her up.

  His good mood teetered on the edge of oblivion, but he pulled it back. Amanda was probably just tired. They had spent the last two night making love; she probably just needed some rest.

  Maybe tonight they should just sleep in each other’s arms. But damn if he didn’t want to make love to her every opportunity he got.

  “Mind on the job,” Dylan reminded him as they entered the store.

  “Yes, boss,” Jed said with a smile. Who would have thought: Dylan Taylor, giving him a chance to be a success?

  Chapter Fifteen – Amanda

  She looked at the envelope. Picking it up, and then placing it back down on the desk again. She recognized the handwriting.

  Feeling sick, she sat down, her head in her hands, and fought back tears. How did he know she worked here? And the other, more disturbing question: What did he want from her?

  Going to the bathroom, she splashed water on her face, and then patted it dry, looking at herself in the mirror. Her happiness had left her. Gone.

  “Damn him!” she said out loud, turning away from the face in the mirror, and leaving the bathroom.

  “Damn who?” Steph stood in the outer office, the expression on her face questioning.

  “Nothing. No one,” Amanda said, going back to her desk.

  “That face says it’s more than nothing,” Steph said. “Lover’s tiff?”

  “No, it has nothing to do with Jed,” Amanda insisted.

  “So that at least means there is a something wrong.” Steph came around and sat on the edge of the desk. “Listen, I know you are new in town, and you don’t have any family around to talk to. I was the same when I moved to the big city. So, if you need a friend, let me be it.”

  Amanda felt tears pricking her eyes. Steph was so nice; she and Dylan were the best people she could ever have wished to work for. They deserved the truth. Even if it cost Amanda her job. There was no way she wanted to risk their new business. She might be overreacting, but she knew Mason would only be out for what he could get out of this situation. Since Dylan was the man with the money, then that was whom he would target.

  “This came in the mail.” Amanda picked up the envelope and handed it to Steph.

  Steph looked at it. “What’s in it?”

  “Nothing.”

  “I don’t understand, who sends a letter with nothing in it? It’s not even addressed to anyone here; it’s addressed to Amanda Peaks. Did they get your name wrong?” Steph asked, looking at the back of the envelope. “There’s a return address.”

  “The return address is my old address, and the name Amanda Peaks is my old name.”

  “Your old name? Like your maiden name. You mean you are already married? Oh, honey, Jed will understand.” Steph put her hand on Amanda’s shoulder.

  “I’m not married. I changed my name to escape who I was.”

  “Oh. Do you want to tell me who that person you are trying to run from is?” Steph kept her voice even, not hinting at the uncertainty that crossed her face. Instead she rubbed her swollen baby-filled stomach thoughtfully. “Or is this something you want to share with Jed first?”

  “No. I don’t know
. I wanted to keep it secret.” Amanda sighed. “Or maybe I should just leave town. I don’t want to mess up Jed’s life.”

  “Amanda, the only way you will mess up his life is if you leave him. You are his mate, and that will never change. He will not be able to live without you. Not happily, anyway.”

  “I don’t deserve him,” Amanda said.

  “Well, tough. He’s yours, you are his. Get over it. Whatever it is, you’ll get through it together. That’s what you would do for him. Right?” Steph said, and she was right. Amanda would do anything for Jed, and his family. Including walking away. But that would hurt him, more than the details of what she had to confess.

  “There was this man.”

  “Isn’t there always?” Steph said. “Go on.”

  Amanda stood up and walked to the window. “It goes back before that, though. Way back.”

  “Then start at the beginning.”

  “I was a lonely child. An even lonelier teenager. One day this guy, Mason, walked into the jewelry store where I worked, he had a ring that needed adjusting.” She took a deep breath, not wanting to go into every sordid detail. “Anyway. I fell for him hard. One day as I was closing up, he came into the store, and he persuaded me to make love in the back room. I still lived with mom and stepdad, which meant no privacy, so you know…”

  “Let me guess, jewels went missing and so did he?” Steph asked.

  “That is about right.”

  “And you didn’t turn him in?” Steph asked.

  Tears came now, rolling down her cheeks. She wiped them away angrily. “He texted me. Said he was sorry, but he had a girlfriend and a daughter. That the only reason he stole was for them. Maybe I was a sap, but all my life I had wanted a father who would do anything for me.”

  “Oh, honey. I see where you are coming from. You did what you thought was the right thing.”

  “That’s some of it. But I also felt guilty, as if I was to blame. The store was my responsibility and I let my boss down. I trusted him, but he turned off the security camera while I was locking the door…” Amanda turned back to Steph. “That envelope is a warning. It sends a message that he knows where I am.”

  “You think he’s going to try the same thing here?” Steph said. “We don’t exactly have jewels lying around the place.”

  “He’ll have some scam up his sleeve. I’m guessing he’s going to try to blackmail me. Money or my job. Heck, he probably knows I inherited my grandma’s cabin and thinks he can con me out of it. Or that I’ll give him a cash lump sum to get rid of him.”

  “But you are not.” Steph stood up awkwardly, and crossed over to Amanda. “You will not. We’re going to help you get through this. Me, Dylan and that big lump of a man who is in love with you.”

  “You don’t think it would be better if I just quit? The last thing I want is to cause you any trouble. Not with the baby so close and all. I have a prison sentence because of this.” Amanda wanted to believe she would get through this, that she would get Mason off her back without losing everything she had gained over the last few weeks.

  Her independence, her freedom, good friends, a great boss, and, most of all, Jed.

  “Lady, you are not going anywhere. I believe in you.” Steph took the envelope and gave it to Amanda. “Keep this safe. If the guy turns up and harasses you, then we get Declan to arrest his ass. This will be proof.”

  “And what do I tell Jed? And Dylan.” Amanda wasn’t sure how they would take it.

  “I’ll tell Dylan. You tell Jed when you are alone later. Just make him swear he won’t go and hunt the jerk down. Bears are very protective, believe me. I know.” She smoothed her hand over her stomach. “If anyone tried to hurt this cub inside of me, I would kill them without a second thought. It’s made life kind of interesting for me and Dylan lately. He’s seen me in a whole new bossy-pants kind of a light.”

  “Thank you, Steph.” Amanda wanted to hug the pregnant woman in front of her.

  “No problem. You just be on the lookout for anything suspicious. And don’t worry, if he tries to show his face here, or anywhere in Bear Bluff for that matter, he will wish he had never come here.”

  Amanda smiled. “It’s nice to feel part of a community.”

  “Amanda, you are part of a large extended family now you are hooked up with a shifter. His family will treat you as one of their own. And Bear Bluff bears always look after their own.” She hugged Amanda. “You are not alone here. Ever.”

  “Thanks,” Amanda said. “I haven’t ever been part of a real family. It was me and my mom and my grandma for the first few years of my life. Then grandma came here, and it was me and my mom. Until she remarried.”

  “That is the past. Mason is the past. Your future will be happy.” Steph stepped back from Amanda. “Remember, hormones. No one messes with a pregnant female shifter. Not if they want to live.”

  Amanda said goodbye to Steph, feeling so much happier, and wishing she was a shifter; those raging pregnancy hormones might be just what she needed to fend off Mason when he showed up. And she was absolutely sure he would show up.

  The only thing she didn’t know was when that would be, and what trouble he planned to bring with him.

  Chapter Sixteen – Jed

  “I have some news to share with you,” Jed whispered in her ear when he got back to the office. His arms were around Amanda, and he held her close, breathing in her scent. She still looked a little pale, but she had insisted she was all right when he asked.

  “And I have something to tell you,” she said, resting her head on his shoulder. “So maybe we should get home.”

  He liked that she thought of the cabin as their home. “Then grab your purse and let’s go.” He released her, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible. Tonight was not the night for last minute overtime.

  “See you tomorrow,” Jed called to Dylan, who was sat at his desk, doing something on his computer. Jed would never get used to those things, and he hoped part of his job as foreman didn’t involve working one of them. His fingers always seemed to hit the wrong keys, and sitting at a desk was not Jed’s idea of a good working day.

  “Bright and early,” Dylan answered. “We’ll get the house watertight tomorrow. Any messages, Amanda?”

  “No. Quiet day,” she replied, which was kind of truthful.

  “Great, see you tomorrow,” Dylan said.

  “Bye.” Amanda steadied her nerves; she had to keep it together and trust that when Steph spoke to Dylan about her past, he would understand. He had a prison record himself. That was what Steph had said. She had also mentioned that Dylan would know exactly why Amanda had taken the blame.

  “Hey. I’m right here,” Jed said, putting his arm around her as they walked to the car.

  “I know,” she said, fishing out her keys.

  “I thought I would remind you, because you seemed miles away. Let’s make dinner, and then we can share our news.”

  “I think I’d rather get it out of the way first,” she said.

  “That bad?” he asked.

  “Maybe.” She opened the car door and got in, buckling her seatbelt and starting the engine. “I just want to make sure you know who I am. What kind of person I am.”

  “I think I can tell. My bear senses are pretty good at sniffing out good and bad people.”

  “I might need to borrow them,” she said as they left the yard and got in the car. In seconds she was on the road, headed towards the cabin she called home. How much simpler her life would have been if she had lived in the cabin, never started work for Dylan and never found a bear who told her she was his mate. She could have lived a simple life off of the savings her grandma left her.

  Instead she had learned to care about other people.

  Isn’t that what you always dreamed of? she reminded herself. You always wanted to be part of the world, part of a family. If you had stayed in the cabin, never venturing out, you would have been as lonely as the little girl who always stayed in her room.<
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  “So are we going to go with good news or bad news first?” he asked.

  “I think bad news,” she said, watching the road carefully. “Then you can cheer us up with your good news. If you still want to. If you still want me.”

  He placed his hand over hers. “There is nothing you can say that will make me want you less.”

  “Isn’t that unfair?” she asked. “I mean you want me unconditionally. What if I’m an axe murderer or something?”

  “Then I lucked out, didn’t I? But you aren’t.”

  “No, I’m not. But I did do something wrong.”

  “You know my past. You know that I haven’t always done the right thing. No one has. Not me, not Steph, not Dylan. And I’m sure you can count your parents in with that too.”

  “You’re right.” She pulled up in front of the cabin and switched off the engine. “I guess it was such a huge thing to me. I’ve maybe blown it all out of proportion.”

  “So tell me, and let’s move on.” Jed turned to face her. He couldn’t think of anything she could say that would make him love her less.

  “Can we walk? I’d like some fresh air; it helps me think straight.” She got out of the car and waited for him before striking off towards the path that wound up through the mountains. The night was closing in, but he knew these paths and could keep her safe. But his fear was that it wasn’t the dangers of the mountain he would lose her to.

  “Amanda. Just tell me.” They had walked for a few minutes, and he pulled her off the path, through some low brush and out onto an open meadow that looked down on her small cabin.

  “OK.” She stood facing him, the last of the sunlight caressing her face with its soft mellow glow.

  “Whatever it is, we can face it together.” He paced his hand on her arm, grateful that she didn’t flinch away from him.

  “I hope so.” She nodded. “Someone sent an envelope to Dylan, to the construction company today.”

  “I saw it, this morning. What was in it?”

  “Nothing,” she said. Then explained, “It didn’t have Dylan’s name on it. It had mine. My old name. You see when I came to Bear Bluff, I took my grandma’s maiden name. I wanted a new start.”